Adriana Allen is a Senior Lecturer at the Development Planning Unit, UCL, where she directs DPU’s MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development and leads the DPU Research Cluster on Environmental Justice, Urbanisation and Resilience (EJUR).

Originally trained as an architect and urban planner in Argentina, my native country, I specialised over the years in the fields of urban environmental planning and political ecology. I have over 25 years international experience in research and consultancy undertakings in 16 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and less extend the Middle East. Both as an academic and practitioner, my work focuses on the interface between development and environmental concerns in the urban context of the global south, and more specifically on establishing transformative links between environmental justice and urban sustainability and resilience.

Over the years, I have worked for several national and international organisations, including the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UN-Habitat, WaterAid, Department for International Development (DFID/UK), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), Plan Construction et Architecture du Ministere de l'Equipement (France), IberoAmerican Cooperation Institute (ICI / Spain), The European Commission (EC) and Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIC, Belgium). In-country research, training and advisory assignments include: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Tanzania, Uruguay and Venezuela. Within Europe, she has undertaken research assignments in Spain, The Netherlands and the UK. 

I am a Visiting Professor at various universities in Latin America and acted a beacon member for the 2006 IV World Water Forum cross-cutting perspective dealing with institutional development and political processes in water provision. I am also co-editor of the International Journal of Sustainable Urban Development and a regular reviewer for Urban Studies, Cities, Local Environment, Human Ecology and Natural Resources Forum, among other international academic journals.

Within UCL, I currently support a number a university-wide initiatives in the realm of urban sustainability, which include my role as the Environment Institute Co-Director for Sustainable Cities; and formerly Urban Laboratory Co-director in ‘Social cohesion, urban infrastructure and the public realm’. In addition, I am a member of the UCL-The Lancet Commission on Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change and of the UCL Grand Challenges of Sustainable Cities (GCSC) Executive Group.